


Not What I Wanted

by FiniteWonderland



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Danny Fenton Is So Done, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:47:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23606275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiniteWonderland/pseuds/FiniteWonderland
Summary: For as long as he could remember, Danny had wanted a dog. A German Shepherd or Doberman, to be exact. Why in the world would his mother think this is what he would possibly want or be okay with? Some fifteenth birthday this was turning out to be.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 86





	Not What I Wanted

Danny had woken up on the day of his fifteenth birthday with excitement bubbling in his gut and to texts from Sam and Tucker that they had promptly sent at midnight. He'd been too exhausted to stay up, and the night had been quiet, so of course he'd gotten right to sleep. The fact today was a Saturday was even better, his parents had been hinting at "something special" all week, and it was making him suspect that perhaps they'd finally gave in and got him a dog. The way they'd been hinting this "something special" was different than the way they usually hinted at "something specials." It just _had_ to be a dog! 

He had to keep himself from skipping down the stairs after he'd dressed himself and invited Sam and Tucker over. 

"Good morning, Danny. Happy birthday!" Jazz says to him from where she's making his favorite breakfast, all out pancakes, sausage, eggs, bacon, french toast, the works. He almost missed the worried look on her face in the excited stupor he'd worked himself up into. 

"Morning, where're Mom 'n Dad?" He asks, planting himself at the kitchen table as he types away at his phone in the group chat with Sam and Tucker, excitement once again attempting to burst from his insides. He glances at Jazz out of the corner of his eye, curious as to what she could be concerned if not worried about. 

"Oh! Um..." It takes her a moment to respond. "They went to pick up your birthday present." She definitely sounds concerned. He straightens up to look at her fully, an eyebrow raised. 

"Okay? Sam and Tucker are on their way over, I hope that's okay." 

"That's fine, they might as well move in at this point, since they're here so often," She gives a nervous laugh. 

"Are you okay?" 

"Fine! Fine." 

......

"Danny! Don't move from where you're at!" He hears his mom's voice call as his parents walk through the front door. Tucker gives him a light punch to his upper arm and he exchanges excited glances with Sam and Tucker. Jazz once again gives him a nervous, strained smile. 

"Danny," His mom starts after they'd all been seated at the table. "I know how much you've wanted a pet for the longest time, and I know that right now you've been having a hard time with school, so your dad and I thought that maybe this would help you have an easier time and help you gain some motivation." Despite her words, Danny can feel his heart trying to beat its way out of his chest, and his foot begins to bounce as he attempts to stay in his seat. "There's a catch, though. No animals in the lab, and everyone will do their part to abide by that, but in the end it boils down to it being your responsibility, yeah?" 

"Yes! Yeah! Completely!" He can't bring himself to care that his voice is cracking in excitement, or that Tucker is snickering at him for it. 

"Jack?" His mom says with a nod. 

"On it!" The overly excitable man comes skipping back with a box in his hands. Perhaps a puppy? "I hope you like her, Danny-boy, we took a lot of time to pick out one we think you'd get along with!" 

Once the box was set in his lap, he wastes no time pulling the flaps open, to find-

.... a fucking _cat?!_

A small black cat with emerald green eyes hisses up at him, cowering in the box's corner, her shaggy fur dingy, her fluffy tail puffed out like a feather duster. 

They brought him home a feral stray cat and thought he would get along with it?

What was this? 

His excitement fizzles and his heart bottoms out. 

A cat. 

A cat, meaning litter boxes and scratched arms and most likely being attacked just for walking by it. 

How _lovely._

His eyebrows pull down and his eyes find his mom's, gaze questioning and accusatory. 

He can see his mom's face sink for a moment, before a gentle smile pulls its way over her face.

"This cat's owner passed away in a car accident. She was twenty years old and in college," Maddie can feel relief pass through her chest at the look that settles on Danny's face, a look of shock and disbelief. "Her mother doesn't want her, and was bringing her into the shelter when we got there. She said this cat was very attached to her daughter, and that her daughter was the only one that the cat would let near her, that they slept together under blankets and were always together when possible. We did look at all of the other cats, but we kept coming back to this one. I think you two will get along in time. I really believe that you'll be able to be as close to her as she was with her first owner." 

Danny can feel his emotions swirling around in his chest in a way he'd never felt before. "Uh, thanks, Mom. I'll try..." He says as he looks back down at the still puffed up little cat in the box in his lap. 

.....

Danny is sitting, frustrated, as the cat refuses to come out from under his bed. It had been a month, and the cat is hardly ever seen, just sneaks around and hisses and runs whenever someone pays her even an ounce of attention. He felt like he was having to care for this stupid cat without getting any of the benefit. He was already getting extremely tired of having to clean out the litter box every morning and night. 

"You have to give her time, Danny. She doesn't understand why the person she loved never came back and why she's here now instead of where she grew up." Sam tells him, an irritated look on her face. Her and Tucker are perched on his bed, while he's on his hands and knees, glaring at the cat under his bed. She gives a low growl. One positive is that she'd never attacked anyone or tried to scratch. He's positive at this point that if someone tried to grab her she wouldn't hurt them, just try to get down and away. 

"It's just stupid. I don't even want this damn cat, but now I feel obligated." 

"I already said I'd be more than happy to take her." 

"I know, Sam, but it doesn't feel right to pass off an animal that came from someone that died." 

..... 

Danny lays back on his bed, hand over the gushing cut in his arm as he returns to the living. He gives a sigh. Skulker had really given him a beating this time. He feels nauseous. 

He gives a start at the light weight that lands on the foot of his bed. He gazes down to find green eyes gazing at him, the cat's body tensed to run. 

With a sigh, he lays back again. Another three months had gone by of this cat dodging him, and now she decides to come out? Whatever. 

He is frightened for a moment when he feels a little paw carefully place itself on his thigh. He lifts his head again. The cat is watching him, anxious, her tail flicking from side to side as she guages his reaction. He wiggles his fingers at her, and she hops up, quickly padding over his torso to plant herself on his chest and push her head into his bloody fingers. His breath hitches, his fingers stalled as she rubs her face from side to side over his fingers. 

"Holy fuck," He says quietly. She's a light little thing, her weight on his chest hardly noticable. 

And there she stays. 

She doesn't even mind when he pulls her close. 

Soon, she even starts pestering him when he's asleep by tapping his face with her paw until he lets her under the blankets with him.

**Author's Note:**

> I got this idea while my cat was laying on my chest, tbh. I can cuddle her and hug her and she loves it. I love my girl. She makes sure to push her way on my chest whenever possible to distract me (she even pushes me over sometimes to make laying on my chest possible she's something else).


End file.
